tnt23 Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 Could anybody please point me to the description of the .STX floppy image format? I've got a bunch of those, and would like to use them as is, without need to convert to .ST or .MSA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 .STX is the format used for PASTI, and is used for detailed imaging of ST floppies. Among other things, it allows original disks to be captured with their copy protection intact. If you have an .STX of a copy protected disk, attempting to convert it to other formats will result in the game/program no longer working. Currently there is no available method to write .STX back to floppies, so if you want to use them it must be under emulation. Steem along with the PASTI .dll will mount and use .STX images (read only). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnt23 Posted September 21, 2009 Author Share Posted September 21, 2009 Seems like .STX format details have never been published by PASTI? I would like to load .STX images directly in my floppy emulator. I've already added support for .MSA disk images, thanks to the fact that .MSA format is well documented. If this is not the case - oh well, will have to stick to .ST and .MSA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonsunnyboy Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 If you happen to get a specification, please make sure to contact the Hatari development team (http://hatari.berlios.de/) so that the Hatari emulator can support PASI images too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callaghan Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 what about the steem cartridge images .. where can i get some of these? callaghan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lp060 Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 what about the steem cartridge images .. where can i get some of these?callaghan Have you tried http://www.stayontopic.com/steem/carts ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 Seems like .STX format details have never been published by PASTI? I would like to load .STX images directly in my floppy emulator. No, the specifications have not been published yet. It has been on ijor's to do list for a few years now, but unfortunately he hasn't got around to it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+rdemming Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Could anybody please point me to the description of the .STX floppy image format? I've got a bunch of those, and would like to use them as is, without need to convert to .ST or .MSA. The HxC floppy emulator supports pasti format but is unstable/alpha state. Maybe he (Jeff) can help you. He also reads the HxC Floppy Emulator forum. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff_HxC2001 Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Could anybody please point me to the description of the .STX floppy image format? I've got a bunch of those, and would like to use them as is, without need to convert to .ST or .MSA. The HxC floppy emulator supports pasti format but is unstable/alpha state. Maybe he (Jeff) can help you. He also reads the HxC Floppy Emulator forum. Robert Yes this unstable because i had to make some reverse engineering of the stx format. Additionally this file format isn't very suitable to recreate a physical floppy track: Data in the file are from the WD1772 point of view. There are raw sectors data in the file (like *.ST ) read with the "READ SECTOR" fdc command, and the full track datas read with the "READ TRACK" fdc command. Unfortunately the "READ TRACK" command doesn't return the true content of the physical track (some bits skipped, changed randomly, "sync missing clocks" not in the track). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 what about the steem cartridge images .. where can i get some of these?callaghan Have you tried http://www.stayontopic.com/steem/carts ? Link doesn't seem to work, only points to cack advertising Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstFan Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Could anybody please point me to the description of the .STX floppy image format? I've got a bunch of those, and would like to use them as is, without need to convert to .ST or .MSA. Some people worked on it, and here is description : http://www.sarnau.info/atari:pasti_file_format Surely that desc. from author self would be better and likely more detailed, but we are where we are ... He is too 'busy' for it . Or just wants all credits for self, or who knows ... I can say that pasti format is very similar to STT format (Steems extended one, for some simpler protections, not much spread). Since author, it seems refuses any cooperation and sharing specs, we can do 2 things: waiting that his highness one day do promised things (supporting SW, publishing specs, doing support for floppy writing etc.). Or maybe that we do things self. I will soon try with converting some STX images to STT ones - it should work with some specific protections, and STT is writeable on floppies and works well with HxC emulator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CyranoJ Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Or you could ask Ijor nicely, in a PM, for help - he's always been kind enough to reply to me when I've asked him. I'm not really suprised insults don't work for you. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shredder11 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Best method is to backup using more than one format just in case, although I do not always remember to do this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeezix Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Quite simple really.. niceness or not -- I've asked hm too, and he was very nice to reply, but was too busy to make up a description If a file is to be used for archival storage (the sort of thign we retro collectors do), it must be documented. There is zero point in encoding something in a closed source Windows-only format. It has to work on most OSes, work with multiple emulators, and be documented for the future.. otherwise 10 years later, we have nothing. If Ijor gets hit by a truick, or if peopel want to use the files on anything other than x86 Windows .. you knmow, like a netbook, a phone, a Mac, a Linux machine, etc.. So STX is completely unusable right now; I'd never rip to it (I don't run Windows even since it has no future, until its community supported. Ijor is great, and did cool stuff.. but I just don't see the point of building such a thing, then letting it die a slow death; 90% of the work was creating it; publishing the source is almost no effort, and huge return. Without that last easy step, the whole thing is nullified. However, it did get some traction since it can work, so a lot of STX images got made. But they'll amount to nothing at this rate .. (I also write an ST emu, and be nice to support STX images; but in general, Hatari is far superior to my emu, so I use it; it can't use them. ARanyM can't use them either. Nor can I use them on my Firebee. Can't use them on a real ST/TOS machine either, since no drivers. .... a shame jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijor Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 So STX is completely unusable right now;... (I also write an ST emu, and be nice to support STX images;... Hi Jeff, I admit my fault, but what stops you from using the reverse enginereed file description pointed above? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeezix Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 heya And I mean this to help Pasti flourish, I do not mean to be harsh or imply disrespect; please don't take it this way. It just seems that you're tieing the legs of this guy so it cannot run, it has to crawl I didn't know it existed, and it didnmt' exist when I was active in my pursuit Also, it may well be inaccurate.. its reverse engineered, so probably incomplete. More to point -- if something is closed by design, then it does not serve its purpose of archiving for the future. ie: On the one hand, life is busy and so you've been derailed from releasing the source.. but it also seems like it was meant to be closed from the onset -- why else is there a dll only? But on the other hand, in this community with no way to make $$ from such a thing, why would you make it closed by design.. so its a mystery Probably just free time like has been brought up. But it begs the question.. why not post the source? Or a header file or two? Some random bits from your source tree? It takes only a few minutes, and doesn't matter if its a mess. When people are spending lots of time reverse enginmeering the work, how much effort would it be to just post the work and save them the time? If you did it for the community, then it makes no sense why you hold back? It boggles my mind, I must admit. It is a very interesting question If its for shame.. don't worry, we've all got our rushed code; or if a licensing problem (youv'e got somethign in there you can't redistribute),. just say so. Anyway, its nothing to go on about but I personally (And think others shoudl be the same) that it has no value, unless properly documented; its future is unclear, and right off, that means its no good for its purpose .. preservation. Like a fast car that has a speed limiter.. it just doesnm't make sense for its purpose. A fast car with a speed limiter may look good and run great, but you can get others that do that and aren't fast. If its purtpose is fast, then it has to go fast; for a disk preservation format, that holds abck so things cannot be preserved, and so things cannot be ported to other platfotrms.. it cannot be used. Lots have asked, but we dont' wnt to bug you (and you donmt' need the hastle) .. so why _not_ release the source? You can say 'I just don't want to', and thats that, thats okay, its your code. But you shoudl be up front clear -- if thats the case, you shoudl not push the project, it should pass away. -- Maybe thats too harsh -- can you go through the unofficial reversde engineeredf to ensure accduracy and completeness? If that becomes sufficiently good, then maybe its enough. Maybe an official website somewhere to promote it? (sourceforge or whateevr), just so peopel can refer to something concrete, rather than a site link that is onmly mentioned in a thread or two and thus impossible to find? -- Please again.. I mean no offence; its a small community, we all have families etv; but I've been in some very ularge projects and a lot of open source, and I just like to see things survive, not flounder. Pasti seems good, make it _flourish_ jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijor Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Hi Jeff, It is not that I planned all of this. Things just happened. In the first place, our top priority was preservation. The main and the most urgent goal were to image disks. The idea was that other things, including opening specifications could wait. Unfortunately, formal preservation didn’t work very well. Some projects were too ambitious (if you heard about Guardians), some had problems. And other issues that there is not much point to elaborate here. There is no license issue. I was going to do some changes and enhancements, both to the specs and to the software. The current (unreleased) version of the library has, besides bug fixes and enhancements, several new features that are not yet completed. The idea was that eventually I’ll have the time, and I could release everything in a much cleaner state. But of course, as it happens many times in real life, the day never comes and you never have the time. I am currently working on a new, fully open source version, for Hatari. Unfortunately, the days that I could dedicate most of my time to Atari projects are gone. And I have other Atari related projects (i.e., see my stuff in the 8-bit forum here). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeezix Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 *g* I appreciate that, the time constraints (about to have twins here, and already have a little girl; I've been dumping projects the last few months, which breaks my heart :/) Make the call then .. if it looks like it'll be years before you can get it all out there, then just put it out there as-is in a WIP state -- at least its out and people can refer to it, and port it, as is; maybe post the last stable, and a WIP version, and thenm you can check in changes as you make them over whatever time frame. Maybe others will find bugs and submit fixes (though not likely, such a specialist field means limited eyeballs.. but you never know!) Maybe you don't have to do it all alone? Or if you think you can get it out in a few months, maybe its worth plugging along. But it has been years I'd just put up lasty-stable source somewhere, even if a zip/tarball and not a GIT/cvs/svn somewhere, then peopel will get off your back. I'll stop bugging you now; thanks for your hard work and many projects, and I don't mean to be a pain jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ato Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Ijor: software is never finished, it is never where you want it to be. Following your line of argumentation, then you will never release any source code. This is seconded by your statement that you have even less time now to work on implementing the latest ideas. Quite a conundrum you got at your hands. :-) If it is about source code, nothing beats "release early, release often". Make a git repository available and let other capable software developers help out! Cheers, T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 "Trick or treat? quite a conundrum you little dudes put forth on this halloween" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doommaster1994 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 How do you load STX files into STeem? I tried to associate the files with the emulator, but when I try to open the file with the emulator, it doesn't load the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlazer Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 you need the pasti.dll file in the folder, then you have to enable it in the configuration of STEem. Wish an updated version of this DLL was avail, I hate the nag warning on every launch. Also not sure if it was already published, but here is some good info on now to use Past and make dumps: http://www.atarimania.com/atari_forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2365#p16254 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 There is patched pasti.dll (by Steven Seagal), where nag is removed, but Ijor was not happy with that. I think that it is DL-able at atari forum - try with search there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 Why anybody would want to preserve this format is beyond me. Don't pirate? Sure, I understand that. The trouble is that anybody in the business of Atari ST software quit giving a shit 27 years ago. .STX is crap, as it won't run on real hardware. Anythintg that won't run on real hardware is crap. Just an opinion. As always, opposing viewpoints are welcome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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